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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27892003">baci di dama</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebulae_unravelling/pseuds/nebulae_unravelling'>nebulae_unravelling</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adam and Ronan appear briefly, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Established Relationship, F/F, female!Richard Gansey III, sneaking into a small town pool for shits and gigs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:34:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,847</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27892003</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebulae_unravelling/pseuds/nebulae_unravelling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Girl!Gansey and Blue are yeeting around Henrietta in the middle of summer post-raven-king (but it’s pretty canon divergent). It goes as well as you might expect. Or, the fic only one (1) person asked for but here we are anyway.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>baci di dama</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asterin/gifts">Asterin</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>*resurfaces after like two years with an actual-real-life fic* (ignore my only untamed fic, it was too spur-of-the-moment to count) wow wow it’s been a hot minute since I wrote something to completion. I’m as shocked as you are. I can’t even remember how this got started, only that asterin and I must have talked about it at some point and i was like oh bday present?? And then never finished it whoops!!! Anyway asterin I hope you like it, happy b e l a t e d birthday (holy Jesus I’ve been late before but this is a whole new level) and here’s to me for finishing a thing 🎉</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The scream of cicadas leaked through the shaking glass of Henrietta’s only bus. Blue, sprawled out on the very back seat, pushed sweat-damp hair away from her forehead and levelled a glare at Gansey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whose idea was it to let Parrish drag race fucking Lynch in the Pig, huh, Gansey? It’s absolutely hellish in this tin-can of a bus. I really hate you right now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey, the smug bastard, flicked her eyes at Blue, just the once, before dropping them back down to the sharp edges of her shorts, straddling the line between prudish and inviting. It was, Blue reflected, just like Gansey to wear such diplomatic clothing. Nothing </span>
  <em>
    <span>too </span>
  </em>
  <span>out there, of course, but nothing that suggested that Rachel Campbell Gansey III was unaware of the effect she had on people.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bus wheezed down Henrietta’s main street, all but deserted in the middle of the day. Everyone was indoors, hiding from the sticky Virginia summer. Everyone, that was, except for Blue and her oblivious girlfriend. Gansey had suggested, of all things, they go to Henrietta’s local pool to cool off. Blue, desperate to avoid 300 Fox Way with no cooling, had agreed. It had been a mistake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why, exactly,” Blue tried again, “are we on public transport right now, O Queen of Henrietta, Master of the Ley Lines and Colossal Idiot?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” said Gansey, gaze having slid to somewhere around Blue’s exposed midriff. “No one is master of the Ley Lines. I’m offended on their behalf. “But,” she holds up a finger. “The Pig won’t start after Adam beat Ronan in it; of all the possibilities I didn’t see that one coming. Besides, I rather think that after all that’s happened, we deserve some time to experience </span>
  <em>
    <span>normality.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> This last bit was delivered rather dramatically, with Gansey leaning over the backrest of her seat to smirk at Blue. She shivered. It had nothing to do with the feeble breeze dribbling through the open window and everything to do with the restrained hunger in Gansey’s expression. “What?” she continued, amusement at Blue’s reaction creasing the skin at the corner of her mouth, “Why can’t we just do something normal for once? Like hang out at the pool?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because the pool is a shithole, and closed half the time, and you, Rachel, are not really someone I would expect to see there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nothing had managed to change Gansey’s opinion on honesty, and it was precisely this that made her sigh at Blue, conceding defeat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I suppose so, but you will be there, and really…” she trailed off, as the bus clattered to a stop. Blue peeled herself off the seat, mouth twisted in disgust as she unstuck her legs. The two of them clattered down the stairs and dashed towards the sparse cover offered by the two cedar trees bracketing the pool entrance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey,” Blue began, but she had assumed a look of injured innocence, with her hands held up as if to ward off a blow. “It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>closed.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” she replied, chipper in that way that Blue had come to associate with being able to throw money at a problem until it went away. This, however, was not one of those times. “You are correct. Why don’t we go… somewhere else?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Given that the extent of Gansey’s contact with Henrietta had been limited to Monmouth and Aglionby until very recently, Blue couldn’t find it in her to be surprised at Gansey’s lack of planning. It was faintly endearing, she decided, in a way that also made her want to shred her already ratty shorts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She squinted up at Gansey who had now pulled out her phone and was busy tapping at it with a faintly bemused air. “Adam isn’t answering me.” Gansey’s brows were drawn together, to which Blue felt helpless against smoothing out with her fingers, before leaning into Gansey’s chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A small but vocal part of her brain immediately started chanting </span>
  <em>
    <span>tiddies tiddies tiddies</span>
  </em>
  <span>, which, </span>
  <em>
    <span>yeah.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“I bet he and Lynch are necking at the Barns and left their phones inside. He’s only here for a couple more weeks before heading back to college, and you know how Ronan gets.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I could…” Gansey started, before sighing. “Let’s just go back to Monmouth, we can work something out there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Monmouth was blessedly cool after ten minutes in what felt like a swamp in an oven. Blue pulled off her shirt and prostrated herself in front of the main room’s buzzing fan. Gansey, judging from the noises behind her, had gone to the kitchen. She lay there until her sweat had cooled enough to make her shiver before tumbling off the couch to find Gansey propped in the doorway, similarly undressed, with a sweating beer and flushed cheeks. They darkened as Blue returned the look, but her expression didn’t change. Gansey was, by virtue of her upbringing, unaccustomed to anything but token resistance when she wanted something, and in this, like all other things, Blue was happy to oblige.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was really too hot for anything serious, but Gansey strode towards her with such purpose Blue could feel the last vestiges of her reason dissipating like water on a grill. So much for being sensible. She shivered again as Gansey herded her towards the perpetually unmade bed in the middle of the loft, fingers fumbling in the fine hairs at the nape of Gansey’s neck. The sudden impact of the bedframe against her knees sent her toppling amongst the sheets, Gansey a heavy weight on top of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, Jane, you seem a bit… distracted.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey, you’re a fucking tease! If you don’t do something right no–”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sudden heat of Gansey’s mouth against her pulse, indolent, short circuited Blue’s brain. The tail end of the fans’ arc caught her legs and sent goosebumps prickling up her arms, the same charged feeling as an incoming storm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gans– fuck, oh fuck,” Blue dragged her up so they lay face to face, only millimetres between them. Gansey’s flush had spread right down her chest, and a smear of saliva glistened at the edge of her mouth. She looked gorgeous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I like this better than the pool. Very… hands on.” Blue, having regained her motor skills momentarily, punctuated her words by pressing Gansey closer to her, legs hopelessly entwined. “I think I even forgive you for letting the Pig get wrecked, maybe, if you’re good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sound Gansey made was little more than a wheeze. “Yes,” she mumbled, nosing at the cease of Blue’s mouth, eyes closed, trembling. “Yes, this– this is… nice. Very nice. You’re… nice. Have I told you that? S’all very… nice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made a little noise when Blue relented and kissed her, like there was suddenly no air in her lungs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They broke apart eventually, gasping for breath as the Virginia summer settled over them again, a wet towel left outside in a storm. It was a couple eternities later when Gansey hauled herself off the bed, her normally sleek hair staticky and wild.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve lost my beer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve made me lose my beer, it was meant to help with this infernal heat.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck your beer, I wasn’t finished with you yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The beer stood between the Henrietta General Store and the pub, sharp light from the loft’s windows turning the house opposite a muddy gold. Further back, Gansey and Blue lost themselves in each other, a slow dance of heat and friction twirling towards completion. Outside, the cicadas roared.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later, </span>
  <em>
    <span>much </span>
  </em>
  <span>later, Gansey found her beer, abandoned in mini-Henrietta. On her phone, similarly discarded, was a message from Adam. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What’s up? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Ronan had sent him a message too, very on-brand. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Stop distracting Parrish, fuckhead. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Snorting at her phone, she wandered into the kitchen, lukewarm beer pressed to her forehead. A quick reply assured them that there was nothing wrong then she dumped her phone on the bench. It took both hands to wrestle two more beers from the crammed fridge, which turned out to be well worth the effort.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue made an obscene noise when it was pressed to her stomach, eyes cracking open. Gansey noted with some amusement she hadn’t moved at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wakey wakey, Jane.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“What?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue, disgruntled, twitched in response to the dripping condensation, but managed to sit up. Her hair, already messy, splayed out over the pillows. Gansey folded onto the remainder of the bed, tossing aside the second pillow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We still haven’t gone to the pool yet, you know. And I want to see what the lovely inhabitants of Henrietta do at such an establishment.” Her eyes gleamed in the evening light, fey. “Jane, let’s sneak in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hate you.” A beat of silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s do it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pool, Blue reflected, really was a shithole. It was a low building, crumbling like so many things in Henrietta were wont to do. Gansey had found some sort of appeal in it, obviously. Blue harboured the suspicion it was precisely due to this decline that Gansey wanted to poke around. It wasn’t a claim to ownership, either, though Blue could see how it would look to an outsider. Rather, this was about Gansey… Rachel settling dues. Being seen, even if it was only Blue watching her. The monarch had ascended to a reign of tentative peace, so followed her kingdom. It was all very heros gamos, actually, and Blue spared a moment to be amused over the patch-work Aglionby education she was picking up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> They had walked from Monmouth, shadows long on the sidewalk, small halos, two bodies blocking out a star as it set.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They arrived and Gansey scrambled over the chain-link fence gracelessly, altogether unconcerned with the noise she made. Blue followed more cautiously. Deep pools of shadow spotted the grass, and the open door of the changing room yawned. Lights peeked through the grimy windows, and Blue stood motionless for a second, waiting for Gansey to reappear from wherever she had taken herself off to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pool was an inky hole in the ground, the stairs disappearing two rungs down. Blue could see light reflected off distant street lamps flicker on the highpoints of the wavelets near the filter. The water, when she bent to trail a hand through it, was bathwater warm. Her hands trembled as she lifted them out, suddenly cold.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Blue, where’d you go?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey, when Blue turned around, had dumped her clothes in a pile and was sauntering towards Blue rather intently. She had one of her nicer sets on; the gold ones, little embroidered flowers on the cups and understated embellishments on the waistband. Ronan had instigated that particular gag gift, of course, and Blue had watched Gansey open the box, pause for a moment, eyes closed, before she ripped into Ronan, shaking the brassiere at him like a particularly floppy sword. Adam, roped in to convince Blue to give them the right sizing, had flushed red, shaking with the effort of withholding his laughter lest Gansey start on him too. The next time Gansey had lured Blue back to Monmouth while the others were distracted she had stripped off her shirt to reveal the golden bra, looking like a cat who knows they’re about to get quite a lot of cream, and takes great pleasure in broadcasting that fact to everyone in the immediate vicinity. Blue climbed off Gansey’s lap then, and she had yowled like a cat too, when her plans were upset. It took half an hour, three tubs of yoghurt and a great deal of cajoling on Gansey’s part to convince Blue to take up with her again. They’d ended up knocking one of Gansey’s strange artefacts off the dining table, one of many Mallory liked to send her, some shard of something or other. Gansey hadn’t cared much, only swept it into a corner and left it while they moved themselves somewhere more horizontal.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey slid her hand under Blue’s shirt then, a shock not so much of coldness but more </span>
  <em>
    <span>sensation</span>
  </em>
  <span> shuddering through her at the unexpected contact.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, yes…” Blue coughed awkwardly. “I’ll just…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shucked off her shirt with little grace. Slightly more self-consciously, she pulled off her shorts and left them in a heap at her feet. Gansey had backed up a couple of steps and beckoned Blue towards her with one finger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“C’mon, let’s go. And no splashing, I don’t want to get caught and then explain this to my parents.” Her teeth glinted in the streetlight, hungry again. She hadn’t cared about the noise earlier, but they’d still had their clothes on, and an excuse would not have been difficult to give.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rachel was very pretty when she wanted something. There was a sort of glow about her; a candle inside cut crystal. She beckoned again, more forcefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue stepped up to her side, and they slid into the pool together, the water still strangely warm. But it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> summer, and it lent the night a slightly mystic air. Blue snorted to think what Calla would say to her musings. Something acerbic, knowing her. But it didn’t matter, because the ladies of 300 Fox way thought she was at Monmouth, which was true, so long as they didn’t start asking her </span>
  <em>
    <span>when</span>
  </em>
  <span> she was at Monmouth. In all honesty, they were too busy repainting the kitchen after the latest Gwenyllian incident and had waved Blue out of the house with relief. Which had led her here. It was only Henrietta but the night was soft above them and the water was warm around them and Blue and Gansey floated hand in hand and everything settled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Some minutes later they separated and drifted a couple of feet from each other, and Blue lost sight of Gansey. It was likely she was just floating behind Blue, or something had caught her eye at the water’s edge. It wasn’t a problem, so she let her mind haze over, the white noise of the water a comforting buzz in the background. She had only a moment to wonder at Gansey’s prolonged silence before something crashed into her from underneath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the fu–” Blue spluttered, the sharp bite of chlorine in her nose and under her tongue. Her eyes stung. It took a second for her vision to focus, but when it did, Gansey was looking back at her, mouth stretched around her laughter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gansey!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shh, shh, don’t get us caught!” She kept laughing, obvious delight at Blue’s indignation all over her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh so I’m going to get us caught, but you flailing around is perfectly fine?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey only laughed harder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blue launched herself at Gansey, waves spreading from their impact. They tussled together gently, more interested in making the other laugh than instigating a serious fight. Blue dunked Gansey in retaliation, but got dragged under too, sputtering, with Gansey’s hands hot on her hips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re not quiet at all, which is a shame because Gansey had just started to nip at her jawline with intent when someone rattled through the turnstiles at the entrance to the pool.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, shit,” Blue said, “what’s security doing here so late?” And then, “Oh, shit, Gansey, out of the pool!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gansey, gratifyingly, cut through the water towards their clothes immediately. They’re splashing too much but it’s that or be caught </span>
  <em>
    <span>in</span>
  </em>
  <span> the water and then how on earth will they escape?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The security guard – the owner, maybe, because when did Henrietta care to put up a security guard? – rattles the turnstile too much in his haste to get through, and Gansey smirks at Blue as they scoop up their clothes and sprint towards the far wall. He’s stuck and cursing fit to wake the dead, and if the two of them laughed a little louder than necessary as they jump the fence, adrenaline and lust both are a potent mix to cap off the endorphins from successful rule-breaking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later, after Gansey has wrinkled her nose at the chlorine in her undergarments, and Blue has brushed her hair out to a frizzy mess, they curl up on the bed. Blue has tucked one of her feet under the line of Gansey’s thigh and their heads are slotted together. It is very quiet, except for the slow breathing of the nearly asleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you have fun, Blue?” Gansey murmurs. She twitches her head a little to dislodge Blue’s hair from her lower lip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mmmm.” And then, more clearly, “yes, of course.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’ve done this enough times – the sleeping, not the swimming at night and flagrant disregard for private property – that Gansey would have known Blue’s humming was affirmative even without the follow up. But. It’s nice… the verbal confirmation. Tangible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Blue is tangible: the solid line of her radiating heat against Gansey, one hand pressed against the small of Gansey’s back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They hold onto one another, even though it’s still too hot, as late as it is. They hold on, and in the morning, when they are startled awake by a sharply amused Ronan and a more subtle Adam making no effort to mask their noise, their hands are still laced together.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I say this is set post-raven-king but in all honesty I don’t remember enough of the books to back myself up and also I don’t care so take all this with a handful of salt I just enjoyed writing blue and gansey being horny.</p><p>Thank you to the ‘be the serpent podcast’ for talking about heros gamos, I feel very smart knowing about it.</p><p>Ok so yes I really enjoy verbal confirmation of affection and also I think it’s ultimate sexy to be that honest about a partner so the gals get words of affirmationTM as a treat.</p><p>Look hopefully I got the vibes right for this piece but like I said above, it’s been a hot minute since I read trc and I don’t have the time to reread the series/do serious research and I don’t care, its fanfiction and a very niche idea besides. Thanks for reading, love you all lots, tell me in the comments about the state of the vibes of this piece I’d truly love to hear it!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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